It’s been two years since Disney+ delivered the eagerly anticipated television adaptation of Rick Riordan’s beloved Percy Jackson & the Olympians novel series, giving fans a thoughtful and faithful adaptation of the books. Now, the streamer is back with the second season, with the series focusing on the second book in the series, Sea of Monsters. Heading into Season 2, the stakes were definitely higher. Season 1 had finally given Percy Jackson fans the adaptation they’d hoped for after two live-action feature films left a bit to be desired but also left fans wondering if the series could maintain that momentum while still making necessary changes to accommodate the growth of its young cast. Now, however, we don’t have to ask the gods for the answer to that. Season 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is every bit as good as the first.
The second season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians picks up roughly a year after the first season ends but wastes no time in catching viewers up. Percy (Walker Scobell), Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries), and Grover (Aryan Simhadri) have all been out in the real world (aka, away from Camp Half-Blood) for the past year. Percy has been attending school as has Annabeth who is also reconnecting with her family for the first time in years, and Grover is searching for Pan. But a lot has happened in that time apart. Grover is captured and in danger, the protective border at camp is breached, and Percy has a newfound cyclops half-brother, Tyson. And that’s just scratching the surface of issues as Luke’s personal war to destroy Olympus continues with it up to Percy and his friends to save camp and stop Luke.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Percy Jackson Season 2 Deviates a Bit From The Books In Ways That Work
Straight out of the gate, fans of the books will notice that there are some significant differences between the Sea of Monsters novel and the season. Unlike Season 1 which at times felt like the episodes unfolded very much like reading the book itself, Season 2 is not quite as faithful of an adaptation in the literal sense. From just the first few episodes (ComicBook was given the first four episodes of the season), there are some changes. The main beats of the story are there. It’s some of the details and structure that are different: where Tyson saves Percy is different, the details of some of the changes at the camp have been altered. That said, these aren’t changes that detract from the overall story. Instead, they make sense in terms of taking the story from text to a visual presentation and actually work very well.
The changes also help give Season 2 a much more mature and slightly darker tone than Season 1. This is also a strength. The Percy and Annabeth we meet in Season 2 are older, more complex people — and so are the actors that portray them. Both Scobell and Jeffries bring a good balance of teen earnestness and the challenges of dealing with complex emotions at the same time. Percy and Annabeth are extraordinary kids dealing with both monsters and ordinary teen things and the pair play it perfectly. However, perhaps the best addition to Season 2, however, might just be Daniel Diemer as Tyson. The character is a delight as is Diemer’s performance.
Another Divine Season, But Not Without Some Flaws
While Season 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians continues the excellence that Season 1 began, particularly in terms of how it deepens the storytelling the books began, that doesn’t mean it’s without flaw. One thing that is a bit weak is the pacing. This was a bit of a weak point in Season 1 as well, but it’s amplified a bit this time around. The first two episodes in particular feel just a little rushed, pushing the viewer through not only a quick recap of Season 1 but tossing them back to Camp Half-Blood and into the danger of things without really giving them much of a chance to get the lay of the land — the new characters and the gravity of the new threat everyone is facing (not to mention how it plays into the overall story.) There’s also a bit of a hard shift in terms of the dynamic between Percy and Annabeth that doesn’t necessarily feel like it was fully developed and was instead just inserted. It’s not that it doesn’t work and doesn’t make sense, it just feels a little off center at first. Both of these things contribute to the sense of being off kilter, which in turn feeds the story a bit for the viewer, but it is a little distracting and takes some time to even out.
Even with the pacing and some of the dynamic issues, Percy Jackson and the Olympians is still a fantastic series. It continues to be a loving and faithful adaptation of one of the most beloved young adult novel series and, perhaps most importantly, doesn’t lose its momentum from Season 1 to Season 2. The characters have grown, the quest is bigger, but everyone is up to the challenge and, once again, it feels like we’ve been favored by the gods themselves.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians debuts Wednesday, December 10th on Disney+.
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